Five of the female members of the Pentecostal Temple Church have been formally installed in their respective ecclesiastical offices.
Mother Jessie Stewart was ordained as a minister of the Gospel, Sisters Peggy Johnson and Mia Jones were licensed to preach, and Sisters Sandra Johnson and Georgia Terry were installed as deaconesses.
Pastor Frank Benson Jones said, “Women should be allowed to go as high in the church as God has called them to be, and no man, or man-made rules, should be permitted to hinder them.”
He said he believes it is a misinterpretation of the scriptures or male insecurity that causes some congregations to withhold licenses and ordination from women.
“I believe that all church members are ministers because we are all called to serve and do the work Jesus has assigned to the church. No one should wait for ordination or certification before they begin doing God’s work because it is better to work and not have a title than it is to have a title and not work,” he said.
Pastor Jones added that all Christians should obey Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Also, he encouraged women to continue to do God’s work, with or without man’s approval or recognition.
“The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, ‘As every person hath received the gift, even so, minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.’
“Just as there has been a political battle for women’s rights in the work place and in politics, we are going to have an ecclesiastical battle for women’s rights in the church.”
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